July 20, 2024 by creatorworship
My fast and furious vacation was only 10 days, for reasons of scheduling and finances, so why am I still talking about it 3 weeks later? Well, it was that good, and I like to tell stories. Please be patient; I will be done soon.
I slept in on my 8th day of vacation, not arising until 5:30. The sun was up, the woods were calling, I could sleep later another day. I arrived at the trailhead of my last hike, Kidney Pond, at just before 7 AM. I didn’t have a goal other than to enjoy the scenery one more time, so I hiked a short distance to find a spot where I could get to the shoreline and sit down. The morning was glorious, bright, cloudless with a light breeze sufficient to keep the insects away. The sun was already high, and I was looking into it, which caused the other shoreline where there were cabins to be shadowy. It felt as though I was all alone, though in such situations, I only feel the lack of people. As time goes along, I am trusting and feeling more of God’s presence as I lean into Him, therefore, I am aware that I am never alone. The details of this very trip, how everything fell into place with incredible moments in nature and with people, both family and friends as well as strangers, strengthened my sense of His presence. It is days like these that we must remember when more difficult and mundane days challenge our resolve to live thankful and trusting.
I have some pictures and commentary of this last wee hike at “Last Morning in Baxter“, but before you go there, I’d like to share the poem that began coming to me as I strolled the 1/2-mile back to the vehicle, completing it in my journal:
Kidney Pond, Baxter State Park, ME, 7:30 AM 6/21/24
Morning sunlight glimmer
Water deeper, dimmer
Woodpeckers pecking away
Bullfrogs calling their way
Water on granite boulders lapping
Breeze cooling, stirring, laughing
Mountains against bluest sky
Spruce, fir, pine, cedar point high
Alone ‘til now when far across
Fishermen cast in shimmer loss (1)
Voices few but come on breeze
Just in shadow of far trees
Water lilies bob on the gentle swell
Almost blooming, all is well
So, God gave me this final pleasure
At Kidney Pond I drank full measure
I left B.S.P. probably never to return, but I take a piece of it home with me as memories. For me, this is what vacation is all about, making memories and learning to make more memories in the daily challenges, opportunities, and privileges of life, whether a bright day by a beautiful pond or a rainy day of further darkening skies. God is worthy and I benefit.
- A little artist license with the verb agreement
Posted in Beauty, Exploring, General, Hike, Nature, Outdoors, Poem | Tagged Baxter State Park, Glacial Pond, Hike, Naure, Outdoors, Poem | Leave a Comment »
July 13, 2024 by creatorworship
Baxter State Park is about Mt. Katahdin, right? It is certainly the most popular destination in the park, but it is a true wilderness with very few roads and those are all gravel. It has other mountains. It has streams, waterfalls, ponds galore, and some 209,000 acres of northern forest. The day after I climbed Mt. Katahdin, I took several hikes adding up to 10 miles that sampled some of the other sites of the park. Check it out at “Pond, Peaks, and Falls“.
Posted in Camping, Exploring, General, Hike, Nature, Outdoors | Tagged Baxter State Park, Camping, Hike, Nature, Northern Forest, Outdoors | Leave a Comment »
July 7, 2024 by creatorworship
When I was a 17-year-old, I hiked for 7 days in Maine. It had been intended to be a month, but health and other issues shortened the trip. Also, Baxter State Park was having major forest fires and was closed at the time. So, ever since then, I have wanted to hike up Mt. Katahdin. I only had to wait 47 years. Check out my wonderous day on the mountain at “Mt. Katahdin.”
Posted in Camping, General, Hike, Nature, Outdoors | Tagged Bucket List, Hike, Mt. Katahdin, Nautre, Outdoors | Leave a Comment »
July 3, 2024 by creatorworship
What do you do on a day after achieving a serious goal? Rest, celebrate? Sure, that works, but how do you rest and celebrate? Frequently, circumstances dictate what you do, but I had the joy of spending it with grandchildren, yet again doing what I love to do, explore in the woods. Together with their father and mother, we went to Diana’s Baths and then Cathedral Ledge, and then I was on the road again. See for yourself at “The Baths“.
Posted in Camping, Exploring, Family, General, Grandchildren, Hike, Nature, Outdoors | Tagged Exploring, Grandchildren, Hike, Nature, Outdoors | Leave a Comment »
June 30, 2024 by creatorworship
Continuing on my vacation (see “Challenging, Inspiring, Tiring“) by leaving the blessed fellowship at church in Essex Junction, VT, I headed east to North Conway, NH, to meet my daughter and her family. I realized from road signs that I would soon be passing through Montpelier, the capital of Vermont. As an elementary school child, I was always very interested in geography, certainly because of my family’s vacations, family discussions, and National Geographics in the home. Trivia facts about places clung to me like flies on flypaper. I was always fascinated by the prospect of the Montpelier capital building dome coated in gold. I must see it I thought. As this story unfolds, you will see several examples of things that I have wanted to see or do for decades. One major one was to bag a sixer. Come along for the ride to see just what I mean by clicking on “A Fierce Mountain To Be So Short“.
Posted in General, Hike, Nature, Outdoors | Tagged Hike, Mt. Washington, Nature, Outdoors, Sixers | Leave a Comment »
June 25, 2024 by creatorworship
I just had the privilege of going on my first vacation in several years. Oh, I’ve taken a weekend here or there, but this trip was 10 solid days. The title represents how I have been describing it when someone asks how my vacation went. Each of those words has a double meaning to me.
Challenging can be good or bad, and it was both. I enjoy being challenged by a strenuous physical activity. I climbed two significant mountains and did other hiking. Conversely, I drove many miles and endured black flies in Maine.
The beauty of God’s creation always inspires me in two ways. We are drawn to beauty, variety, order, bigness, in a word, grandeur. The reason we are drawn to beauty is because it points us to God’s beauty, power, knowledge, creativity, and supply for us. That in turns causes me to want to worship and serve Him more and better.
Most people I talk to want a vacation to be relaxing. I smile to myself and think of the Norman Rockwell painting of the family in the car on the way to and from vacation (1). I choose to embrace the tired and take on some bucket list challenge. Afterall, you come home in order to get rest from vacation, right? My definition of vacation is an enjoyable change of pace that puts you mind at ease. That may be relaxing or strenuous, depending on your personality and physical, mental, and spiritual state. On the vacation that I am beginning here to detail, it was tiring for two reasons. I hiked 38 miles in 8 days. For an AT through hiker that is two to three days, though I say even most of them have trouble with 21 of those miles that I did. Secondly, I drove 2650 miles to get to these hikes and visit several friends and family members along the way. Being somewhat of a stats guy, that means that I drove 70 miles for every one mile that I hiked. That probably means that some of you are questioning my sanity (yes, including you, BST!), but when you have certain limits, challenges are increased. There was also a heat wave in the NE that pushed me to beat the heat with early rising, 4, 4:30, and 5 AM.
With that thorough introduction, let me begin the story of my 2024 trip to New England by you clicking on “Lackawana to Smuggler’s Notch“.
- https://www.nrm.org/HEA/GAC/
Posted in Camping, Exercise, General, Hike, Nature, Outdoors, Vacation | Tagged Church Fellowship, Hiking, Nature, Outdoors | 2 Comments »
June 5, 2024 by creatorworship
I was raised to do the very best at anything that I attempted. That is good and agrees with the Scripture that says, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.” (Colossians 3:23-24) In context that is speaking to slaves, but it must surely include employees, and in reality, all who belong to Christ. As it says in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.” We cannot do less than our best.
But my upbringing extended beyond that. I was put under considerable pressure to be really good at all that I did.
My little brain and emotions interpreted that to mean that I was supposed to be the best at whatever I did. Then, because I never seemed to meet my father’s expectations, I strove to be the best at a good many things and did not accept less than excellent or even perfect in all that I attempted. It is obvious where this is headed. I was frustrated, angry, and depressed because I didn’t meet up to my own or my perceived expectations from others. I had a deep-seated fear of being found out to be a fraud because I didn’t know how to do something.
Praise be to God that I have been rescued from the guilt and shame of that thinking. But old habits and patterns die hard. I was on a walk today, enjoying the exercise and the beauty of the view from the hill I was surmounting, when a tune came to me, Minuet in G Major by Bach. I was joyously pacing my steps by it. Then a sudden flash of sadness came across me and I felt as if tears would well up within me. I took piano lessons for seven years when I was a child, deeply desiring to succeed at it. I could in fact play quite hard pieces, but I was never able, though I try real hard, to sit down and play most hymns from a hymnbook so that others might sing along. It frustrated me that I was not really good at the piano and here all these years later there was still this tinge of regret and sorrow.
But God has been rich in His grace toward me. The next thoughts that came to my mind as I neared the top of the hill were of a thankful sort. Most of what I had desired and dreamed of attempted and pursued and trained for, frustrated over, and failed at had fallen by the wayside. In its placed He has developed other talents, pursuits, compassions, joys for which He has made me and with which He is pleased. I still try my best to do my best, but I don’t need to be the best and far less than perfect is acceptable and pleasing. I am more content with who I am and what I can do than ever in my life, and that is better than best. In those moments when I regress, I have opportunity to repent and find rest in who He has made me to be. All glory be to His name. He is a loving, patient, kind, and caring teacher and guide.
Posted in Blessing, Change, Contentment, General, God Thoughts, Reflection | Tagged Contentment, God Thoughts, My Best, Reflection | Leave a Comment »
May 16, 2024 by creatorworship
In the last entry (“Many Forms“) I mused on the real problem with complaint, fretting, and irritation. It may well be that the cause of these negative thoughts, speech, feelings, and actions are physical or mental/emotional, but they will soon become a spiritual problem unless immediately curbed. So, it may be that I have to take care of physical problems like fatigue, hunger, sickness, or emotional problems like stress or broken relationship. Charles Stanley liked to say that one should HALT what they are doing when Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired, and correct these things before making any decision or moving forward. They increase the likelihood of falling to temptation. Eat, discover the source of anger and resolve it, be reconciled and build relationships, rest, and cover all things with prayer.
These considerations are all along the lines of what needs to be done when I am in a place of temptation or have fallen to it. Of course, with the latter there is also repentance. But prevention and maintenance of a peace and joy requires more. I think that the best way to avoid complaining, fretting, and irritation is to regularly praise God and be thankful to Him in all things. Certainly, being thankful in general is good, that is, being appreciative to those around us. But this is no call to thanking the Native Americans at Thanksgiving or thanking your lucky stars. The Pilgrims thanked God for protection and abundance. Thankfulness is a Christian discipline, privilege, and conduit for blessedness of soul. Being the giver of all good gifts (James 1:17), God deserves our thanksgiving for what He does. He also deserves our praise for who He is. Being rightly oriented to God through praise and thanksgiving brings joy and peace and the blessedness of God’s presence.
I want to live more in that light and less in the blasphemous darkness of complaint, fretting, and irritation.
Posted in Blessing, General, Implications, Praise, Thanksgiving | Tagged Blessedness, Gratitude, Praise, Temptation, Thanksgiving | Leave a Comment »
May 12, 2024 by creatorworship
A sermon on Matthew 5:5 that I heard this morning strongly confirmed an idea that I have been mulling over for several months: “Blessed are the meek [humble, lowly, gentle], for they shall inherit the earth.”
As the preacher said, “meekness is not weakness… but strength under control.”
So, what is lack of meekness? Irritability, anger, or domineering attitude? And why does our sin nature push us in this direction?
How about complaining? Why do we engage in it? Or fretting? Why do so many of us find it to be our go to at the first sign of difficulty?
I have come to conclude that these sins have a common denominator. Consider the following Scripture passages:
Numbers 11:1: “Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the Lord; and when the Lord heard it, His anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.” Why was God angry?
1 Samuel 15:23: “For rebellion is as the sin of divination, And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king.” Why did God reject Saul?
Luke 12:29-31: “And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying. For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things. But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you.” Why is worrying counter to seeking Jesus’ Father’s kingdom?
Ecclesiastes 7:8: “The end of a matter is better than its beginning; Patience of spirit is better than haughtiness of spirit.” Why is patience so much of a better end than haughtiness?
Ephesians 4:26-27: “Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.” Why does anger give the devil opportunity?
Complaint, rebellion, worry, irritation, and anger are various forms of blasphemy, because they communicate that we believe that God is not sufficient for our needs and wants.
Why do I say “blasphemy”? It is “the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence for God” (1) We usually think of words, but acts can show contempt or lack of reverence for God. When I don’t trust God, I am communicating that He is not willing or able to care for me and not worthy of my trust. I am declaring God to be less than God. For me, as I have contemplated this idea, it razor focuses the sinfulness of even common every day, garden-variety complaining, fretting, and reacting irritably. By the power and grace of the Holy Spirit, I want no more of it.
- https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blasphemy
Posted in Connotations, Consequences, Dependence, General, Implications | Tagged Anger, Blasphemy, Complaining, Fretting, Irritability, Meekness, Worry | 1 Comment »
April 26, 2024 by creatorworship
Last Friday, 4/19/24, we were blessed with a 14th grandchild, a boy weighing 8 labs and 21 inches long. May God bless the child and his parents in raising him.
Beloved of the Lord
Jedidiah by name
May God bless and afford
Wisdom and godly fame
Know God’s salvation soon
And serve Him with fervor
For Zeal is a great boon
Mixed with truth and ardor
Beware of a false zeal
And man’s empty wisdom
Of pleasures that appeal
And every works system
Bind truth and love to you
A warrior for the right
A freeman, Francis, true
At peace, yet fit to fight
Posted in Family, Grandchildren | Tagged Blessing, boy, Grandchild, Posterity | Leave a Comment »
April 9, 2024 by creatorworship
I believe that last Tuesday was only the fourth time that I have climbed since I moved to Tennessee over a year and half ago. I have maintained a good portion of my contact strength for holding onto holds by doing hands and fingertip pullups, but as I found out, I have not retained much endurance. It was the most pleasant weather for climbing and the company both new and old was good. Click on “Cheese Grater Special” to see and read what happened.
Posted in Climbing, Consequences, Nature, Outdoors, Problems | Tagged Climbing, Outdoors | 1 Comment »
March 20, 2024 by creatorworship
Back in October I went on a hike with three young people from my church. I had been to Elk River Falls numerous times in years past and even recently, but I did not know until recently that there are two falls beyond that on downstream tributaries. My hiking partner and I were looking for the second one but didn’t find the trail. We have to go back and try again. On the way back I stopped for water and a snack while he went to catch up with the other two who had turned back after Jones Falls. They temporarily got off trail and I passed them, going all the way back to the parking lot at back. Finally, we met up, but I must confess that I was a bit nervous for them. None of that spoiled the beautiful day we enjoyed in the woods finding something new. Click on “Jones Falls” for a few pictures.
Posted in General, Nature, Outdoors, Waterfall | Tagged Hike, Jones Falls, Outdoors, Waterfalls | Leave a Comment »
March 17, 2024 by creatorworship
Due to time, distance, and responsibility, no sixer (1) in reach, we decided to hike Mt. Rogers, the highest point in Virginia at 5729′. The easiest access is from Grayson Highlands State Park, but that is not how we roll. So, we came from VA 603, 6.5 miles to the summit. The road does most of the elevation, leaving a 2400′ elevation gain to the summit. Though listed as hard, for 13 miles out and back, this is a very moderate route with easy grade and smooth trail surface.
My daughter and I hardly felt tired at the summit, so we decided to go back another way, lengthening the return a little and the difficulty a bit. But it was well worth it because the best views and most interesting details were on the return trip. We followed the Appalachian Trail around to the Lewis Fork Wilderness Trail and then the Lewis Fork Spur Trail back to the Mount Rogers Trail back to VA 603. As best I can calculate, our return trip was 7 to 7.5 miles. Being conservative, we hiked 13.5 miles. The cost was some bouldery, ankle-twisting sections and a good half-of-a-mile boggy section. My daughter corrected me to say it was a fen since it was flowing, but I don’t know if there is a term for flowing saturated flat areas in a high mountain forest. It was wet, squishy and required much rock and log hopping to navigate.
When got to the section where the Appalachian Trail and Grayson Highlands Trails used the same path, it was well frequented. On the rest of the Mount Rogers and Lewis Fork Trails, we saw no one. The hike was moderate enough that we finished in less than 8 hours with much sight-seeing and some lounging for peaks and views. If you would like to share a small bit of our adventure, click on “Virginia’s Highest” for pictures and commentary.
- Previous posts: https://creatorworship.net/2022/09/19/eastern-sixers/ , https://creatorworship.net/2022/11/03/2-out-of-3-aint-bad/
Posted in General, Hike, Nature, Outdoors | Tagged Hike, Lewis Fork Wilderness, Mount Rogers, Mountain Ponies, Outdoors | Leave a Comment »
March 10, 2024 by creatorworship
Psalm 62 gives praise to God by drawing a strong contrast between 1) God, who is strong, stable, and substantial, and 2) man, who is weak, unstable, and insubstantial. By men David means a) evil men (v.3-4), b) all men (v.9), and c) himself (v.3) who he describes as a “leaning wall” and “tottering fence”. And yet, because he “waits…for God only” (v.1, 5), that is he trusts in God rather than men (v.9) or things (v.10), he “shall not be greatly shaken.” (v.2)
This is indeed the theme of the psalm: Trust God rather than man or things. Matthew Henry wrote, “We are both in the way of duty and comfort when our souls wait upon God…” I wait for His timing, His way, His provision, His defense, His wisdom, His understanding, His justice, and ultimately His salvation. The basis of our trust is twofold: 1) His Word wherein His attributes, works, and promises are recorded, and 2) our experience of Him wherein He proves His Word in our walk before Him. The latter can never inform the former, but our experience does fortify and deepen our trust. The result is as follows: The Word declares that He is good. He has been good to me. Therefore, I may trust fully that He will be good to me. Afterall, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31)
Take note of the structure of the psalm, which is after all a poem to be sung. It begins with a refrain of trust in verses 1 and 2 which is repeated in verses 5 and 6, though with some variation. Starting thus, “My soul waits in silence for God only” (v.1), David communicates the way in which he trusts in God. In battle, David no doubt moved and was at the ready with his weapons and slashed both offensively and defensively. He was a man of action. But here he sits or bows in anticipatory trust. And for what or who does he wait? He waits for God, not salvation. He knows that when God comes and when God acts, He will bring salvation, but David’s focus is on God. Though best and ultimate is eternal, spiritual salvation, I do not believe, based on what David does and says that he does not also mean physical salvation. There are just too many times when he calls on God to rescue him in and from situations. The skeptic and doubter will immediately throw exceptions on this blaze, but God does rescue His own and help them in time of trouble. He does also allow them to take hits for His glory and their greater good. I am thankful that I may ask for rescue as He has helped me many times.
The variation in the refrain is of interest. The first time he says, “From Him is my salvation,” while the second time he says, “For my hope is from Him.” (v.1, 5) This looks like Hebrew parallelism to me, which means he is saying the same thing with difference in emphasis. He does a similar thing with the other variation. He says, “I shall not be greatly shaken”, but then says, “I shall not be shaken.” (v.2, 6) Is his faith strengthening at the thought of God’s protection? A fright may shake us from our composure temporarily, but we will not ultimately be shaken, for God is able to keep us unto salvation (2 Timothy 1:12).
The psalm ends with an admonition. I like best the translation of verse 11 and 12 from the Wycliffe Bible: “God spake once, I heard these two things; that power is of God (that power belongeth to God), and, thou Lord, mercy is to thee; for thou shalt yield to each man by his works. (and, O Lord, that true love is from thee; for thou shalt yield to each person according to his works.)” The center notes for the NASB agree with this rendering and it makes more plain sense, namely that there were two things in the one pronouncement. Those two things are power and mercy belong to, and therefore are implied to have come from, God. The last phrase grates upon our “by grace alone through faith alone” hearing: “For you recompense a man according to his work.” (v.12) Works prove the faith present (see James 2:14-26). It is God who saves, in whom we should trust, the very point of this psalm.
Posted in Faith, General, God Thoughts, God's Word, Mercy | Tagged Contrast, Faith, Psalm 62, Salvation, Trust, Waiting upon God | Leave a Comment »
March 9, 2024 by creatorworship
My wife has seven siblings and she is number seven. Last weekend five of the siblings got together along with spouses and other family to celebrate the oldest sister’s birthday. The oldest brother, who will turn 90 soon, was there. We are thankful that all eight siblings are still alive, along with my three sibling brothers who we ate with on Saturday evening. Check out some pictures of the party at “88“.
Posted in Birthday, Family | Tagged Birthday, Family, Siblings | Leave a Comment »
March 6, 2024 by creatorworship
I had a discussion with my brother recently about a camping trip that he and his wife took to Murphy, NC. He asked if I knew where that is, since I lived in NC for a number of years. “Oh yes,” I replied, “As they say, “From Murphy to Manteo”. By that ‘they’ mean the full length of the state or applying to everyone in NC (1). In Tennessee where I have returned to after all those years in WNC, they say “Mountain City to Memphis” to mean across TN (2). Are there other states or countries that use this code of place names to mean all of the territory? And what is the origin of this type of phrase? Is it the Bible? Nine times in the Old Testament the writers refer to the full extent of Israel in a way similar to the following: “Then all the sons of Israel from Dan to Beersheba, including the land of Gilead, came out, and the congregation assembled as one man to the Lord at Mizpah.” (Judges 20:1) Dan was not on the northern border and Beersheba was not near to the southern border, even less so than the 4 “M” towns of TN and NC, but it meant all of the territory or all of its people. If that is not the source of this turn of phrase, then is it somehow baked into our perception to use location names over the word “all” to designate the full extent of a territory? Do any of you know of places names representing all of you territory where you live or have been?
- https://www.ncpedia.org/manteo-murphy
- An example of its use: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=816943725607249
Posted in Analogy, Cultural commentary, General | Tagged Analogy, Sayings | Leave a Comment »
March 1, 2024 by creatorworship
A catechism is “a summary of the principles of Christian religion in the form of questions and answers, used for the instruction of Christians.” (1) Catechisms are useful tools for instructing the one poor in Bible knowledge, fortifying unity among like-minded believers, explaining the Gospel and Scripture to the unsaved, and rooting out wolves and heretics from damaging the church. However, they are not Scripture, and therefore, they are not inspired and may be discussed as to faithfulness and accuracy in summarizing Scripture.
In the varied church company that I have kept over the years, the most well known catechism question is the first one of the Westminster Shorter Catechism: “1. What is the chief end of man?” Answer: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.” (2)
It is a concise statement, but I think slightly inaccurate. As I have contemplated it over several years as it comes up in sermons and discussions, I feel that I want to make two changes to the answer. Firstly, I think that the purpose of all things created is to glorify their Creator. The second reason given in the answer is an example of how we do that. Therefore, I would change “and to enjoy” to “by enjoying”. This thought is not original with me (3), and I honestly don’t know if I came up with it independently or if I just cooped it from things I had heard or read unawares. That doesn’t really matter. Relationship with God and enjoying it is certainly beneficial for us in every way, but it is also glorifying to Him, especially in an environment of God-hating demons and people.
Secondly, I think that there is more to glorifying God than enjoying Him forever. One iteration of my change would read something like the following: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God by enjoying, worshipping, obeying, and serving Him forever.” Then my list grew and grew. So much for conciseness. I considered my list and concluded that all of the items after enjoying Him were examples of serving Him. Some will argue, and this probably includes the writers of the question and answer, that serving is a subset of enjoying. I would agree that we do enjoy Him when we serve Him, but He will have service for us to do.
Therefore, my final draft of how I think the answer should read for the reason of better faithfulness to Scripture is as follows: “The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying and serving Him forever.”
- Oxford Languages online
- https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/westminster-shorter-catechism
- https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/our-grand-obligation
- 2 Timothy 2:12, Revelation 4:10, 7:9
Posted in Delights, Faith, General, Glory, God Thoughts | Tagged Catechism, God's glory, Purpose | Leave a Comment »
February 19, 2024 by creatorworship
I took some young friends to another of the geological curiosities of SW Virginia, Sand Cave. White Rocks is impressive, too, but little odd along an escarpment that runs from SW Virginia to N Georgia. It is the reason the Cumberland Gap was so historically significant. A reasonable route for a wagon road was needed across to the Ohio Valley and Daniel Boone was the man to lead the building of it into Kentucky. On this day my four friends and I were at the NE end of the Cumberland Gap National Historic Park for a moderate climb up to ridgetop and the wonders of geology, forest, and weather. Check out my pictures at “Cliffs and Caves“.
Posted in Hike, Nature, Outdoors, Photo | Tagged Cumberland Gap NHP, Geology, Hike, Outdoors, Sand Cave | Leave a Comment »
February 7, 2024 by creatorworship
There is no way you could have been cheated on a dozen if you receive thirteen, thus the Baker’s Dozen. It feels like a number of abundance and integrity. So, I am announcing the arrival of my thirteenth grandchild on Sunday, January 28. I have written each of my grandchildren a blessing poem. I pray and poeticize for my grandbabies in the light of both my Savior’s grace and protection and my society’s darkness. God has overcome this world, and it is right that I asked Him to overcome it on behalf of my family.
Magdelena of the tower (1)
May God give you of His power
As He directs you to each place
May you be endowed with His grace
As Mary who followed Christ well
Much of His resurrection tell (2)
Share the true Gospel to and fro
Living it wherever you go
Faith, assurance of things hoped for
Conviction of unseen before (3)
May God grant it early to you
And may it spread to not a few
Miss Francis ready for battle
Resist evil acts and prattle
Pray in the Spirit, armor on (4)
Know God’s Word which you stand upon
- Magdelena means “woman of the tower”
- Matthew 28
- Hebrews 11:1
- Ephesians 6:10-18
Posted in Blessing, Family, Grandchildren, Poem | Tagged Blessing, Grandchildren, Poem | Leave a Comment »
January 23, 2024 by creatorworship
Even in the midst of victory through repentance and calling upon God written about in 1 Samuel 4, I see so much ignorance about God and His ways. it is not the obvious foolishness that lost the ark to the Philistines (1) or the evil neglect and conduct of Eli and his sons (2), nor even the “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25) syndrome of the era between Joshua and Samuel. This is somewhat more subtle. Why is the ark at Abinadab’s house for 20 years and Israel pining after God rather than erecting the tabernacle and having the Levites install it there? I s Abinadab a Levite?
In our freedom in Christ and nonchalant worship and careless piety and overconfidence in our knowledge of God and our arrogance in “speaking things into existence”, what blessing, victory, and influence are we missing? What 1 Samuel 8 (3) scenario are we failing to avoid in our self-assurance and lack of seeking God’s counsel and following what He has already prescribed and warned about in His Word? (4)
- 1 Samuel 5
- 1 Samuel 2:22ff
- “Give us a king to judge us.” 1 Samuel 8:6
- Example: How the ark should be carried: Numbers 1:50, 2 Samuel 6:6-8, 1 Chronicles 15:2
Posted in Consequences, Implications, Obedience, Piety | Tagged Carelessness, Implications, Piety | Leave a Comment »
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CreatorWorship 
Murphy to Manteo
March 6, 2024 by creatorworship
I had a discussion with my brother recently about a camping trip that he and his wife took to Murphy, NC. He asked if I knew where that is, since I lived in NC for a number of years. “Oh yes,” I replied, “As they say, “From Murphy to Manteo”. By that ‘they’ mean the full length of the state or applying to everyone in NC (1). In Tennessee where I have returned to after all those years in WNC, they say “Mountain City to Memphis” to mean across TN (2). Are there other states or countries that use this code of place names to mean all of the territory? And what is the origin of this type of phrase? Is it the Bible? Nine times in the Old Testament the writers refer to the full extent of Israel in a way similar to the following: “Then all the sons of Israel from Dan to Beersheba, including the land of Gilead, came out, and the congregation assembled as one man to the Lord at Mizpah.” (Judges 20:1) Dan was not on the northern border and Beersheba was not near to the southern border, even less so than the 4 “M” towns of TN and NC, but it meant all of the territory or all of its people. If that is not the source of this turn of phrase, then is it somehow baked into our perception to use location names over the word “all” to designate the full extent of a territory? Do any of you know of places names representing all of you territory where you live or have been?
Posted in Analogy, Cultural commentary, General | Tagged Analogy, Sayings | Leave a Comment »